Kirk Ellis

A conversation in John Adams (2008) can gather so much historical detail that we lose track of what we are waiting for. Kirk Ellis is a historical dramatist worth our time, but this absorbing series also shows how a determination to include everything can slow the writing down. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney make its seven episodes worth the patience they demand. We were glad to return after the slower stretches because their performances held our attention. Its wandering structure and occasional self-importance are real faults, though neither is a reason to pass it over.

His feature debut was as writer and co-producer of The Grass Harp (1995), adapted from Truman Capote’s novel. He then turned towards historical television, writing Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) and contributing to Into the West (2005), before creating and writing John Adams. Sons of Liberty (2015) and Franklin (2024) continued that work. His method involves extensive research, including primary sources and differing perspectives, with emotional truth taking priority over strict factual literalism. A miniseries gives him space to include those perspectives, although we still need a reason to keep watching from one scene to the next.

In John Adams, adapted from David McCullough’s biography, the writing credited to Ellis and Michelle Ashford sometimes seems to allot time according to what happened, regardless of its dramatic interest. Melanie Oliver’s editing does not always give the conversations enough forward movement, so the pace is not something we would put entirely down to Ellis. We need the script to be firmer about which parts of a life deserve that attention. Individual stretches could be shorter without losing anything essential, and that is a more useful criticism than asking historical television to hurry through everything. Start with John Adams, but allow for a writer who is sometimes too reluctant to leave things out.